AGU International Journal of Sciences – 2020, Vol.

8 (1), 66 – 73

STUDY ON CURRENT STATUS OF TILAPIA FARMING IN EARTHEN PONDS

IN AN GIANG PROVINCE

Phan Phuong Loan1

1
An Giang University, VNU-HCM

Information:
Received: 28/08/2019
Accepted: 09/03/2020
Published: 06/2020
Keywords:
Tilapia, farming in earthen
ponds, An Giang
ABSTRACT
This study was carried out through interviewing households who were
farming tilapia in earthen ponds of An Giang province, based on a prepared
checklist to evaluate current status of techniques, product consumption
methods, etc., and propose improved techniques to produce materials for
export. The study results showed that tilapia farming households have not
been trained and mostly based on self-experience and learning from
neighbors. The tilapia farming system was a polyculture practice. Most of
the households bought tilapia fingerlings from hatcheries where the quality
was not guaranteed. Instead of using commercial feed, the households
mainly used the home-made one, which led to low efficiency. Most of the
farms were small-scale without contracts of consumption with enterprises so
the harvested fish was supplied mainly to domestic markets with low price.
There was a need for financial policy to give support to the households in
increasing investment of their production and shifting to higher
intensification and speeding up technique transfer to the tilapia farming
households to upgrade their know-hows and increase production efficiency.

1. INTRODUCTION Vietnam in 1951 to diversify fish cultured

Tilapia is a common name of a fish group,
originated from Africa, belonging to Cichlidae
namely Tilapia, Sarotherodon and Oreochromis
which are different in reproductive behaviors
(Schoenen, 1982; Trewavas, 1983; Beveridge &
Mc. Andrew, 2000). Many species of the genus
Oreochromis have been introduced far outside
their native range and are important
in aquaculture such as Mozambique tilapia (O.
mossambicus), Nile tilapia (O. niloticus), blue
tilapia (O. aureus), etc. (Balarin & Haller,
1987); among those, Nile tilapia is the most
popular species (El-Sayed, 2006). Mozambique
tilapia (O. mossambicus) was firstly imported to
species. However, this species gradually lost its
importance due to overcrowding caused by
early maturation and high spawning fecundity
which leads to slow growth rate and small size
at harvest. To develop tilapia culture, a
commercial strain of Nile tilapia (O. niloticus)
was imported from Taiwan to the South of
Vietnam in 1973 and then transferred to the
North in 1977. Due to high growth rate, low
spawning fecundity and large size at harvest,
Nile tilapia was quickly accepted to become an
important cultured species. In 1991, red tilapia
was firstly introduced into Vietnam from Asian
Institute of Technology (AIT, Thailand). In

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AGU International Journal of Sciences – 2020, Vol. 8 (1), 66 – 73
1992, a Taiwanese company brought red tilapia
into Binh Duong province of Vietnam for
commercial culture trials. Marketable size of
red tilapia was then introduced to restaurants in
Ho Chi Minh City with the trade name of “dieu
hong”. Under the new trade name, the need of
consumption of red tilapia has been increased
rapidly (Nguyen and Trinh, 1996). Nowadays,
red and Nile tilapia are one of the most popular
cultured species in Vietnam.
In recent years, tilapia has considered as
potential cultured fishes for domestic
consumption and exported markets. In 2018,
the total tilapia farming area reached 28,000 ha
with a total harvest of 232,100 tons and
production value of VND 4,9201.5 billion
(VASEP, 2019). Exported tilapia was amounted
to USD 45 million in 2017 (Source: Seafood
Trade Journal, 2019). According to the
“Decision to approve the plan of tilapia farming
development by 2020, driven by 2030” issued
on May, 6th 2016 by the Ministry of
Agriculture and Rural Development, Vietnam
set the target of tilapia output of 400,000 tons in
2030 for domestic and international markets.
Mekong River Delta (MRD) is the highest
potential region of aquaculture development in
Vietnam. In the MRD, tilapia culture has been
practiced mainly in provinces of An Giang,
Kien Giang, Dong Thap, Hau Giang and Can
Tho with diversified farming methods such as
culturing in ponds, cages, rice fields and being
integrated with black tiger shrimp (Penaeus
monodon) in brackish ponds (Duong et al.,
2004). Besides self-farming at small-scale,
many tilapia culture households has established
linkages with seafood processing and exporter
enterprises. However, the sector of tilapia
production has been facing many difficulties
and challenges such as the lack of markets, low
price of raw materials and low product quality,
etc. These difficulties and challenges were
caused by poor planning and development
67
orientation of farming areas, unstable quality of
fingerlings, high cost of fingerlings and input
materials, product quality and safety affected by
polluted environment, lack of knowledge on
advanced farming techniques of the farmers,
etc.
An Giang province is the second largest tra
catfish producer after Dong Thap in the MRD.
In addition to tra catfish, An Giang has also
planned to develop high economic value
species farming namely giant freshwater prawn,
Nile tilapia, snakeskin gouramy and frog. In An
Giang, tilapia have been cultured by small-scale
households for a long time by farmers with
their self-experiences leading to low production
efficiency, frequent disease outbreak, etc.
Therefore, it is necessary to conduct a study to
evaluate the efficiency of farming, consumption
methods and economic profit as well as
advantages and difficulties of tilapia production
in earthen ponds. Based on findings of the
study, improved techniques will be proposed
aiming at export.
2. METHODOLOGY
The study was carried out from January to
March of 2018 through interviewing 30
households in districts of Chau Thanh, Chau
Phu and Thoai Son based on a checklist on
farming methods (pond construction, fingerling
stocking, feeds and feeding, pond and disease
management, etc.), product consumption
(domestic or export), and advantages and
difficulties of tilapia culture.
The obtained data on farming practice,
economic efficiency, product consumption,
advantages and difficulties of tilapia production
were analysed with Excel and SPSS (version
16.0) programs followed the method of statistic
descriptive analysis. Solutions based on the
findings of the study to improve the tilapia
production in An Giang province were also
proposed.
AGU International Journal of Sciences – 2020, Vol. 8 (1), 66 – 73
3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Experience and knowledge source of tilapia
culture
Tilapia farming experience
56.7
Figure 1. Ratio (%) of the experience of tilapia culture farmers (n = 30)
Most of farmers (56,7%) had the experiences of
tilapia farming for more than 7 years; however,
those with less than 3 year-experiences were
quite high (30%). A high ratio of experienced
farmers in the study area was useful to develop
innovation for tilapia production practices such
as good environmental management, early
detection of diseases, etc.
Tilapia farming knowledge
Fish culture in ponds in general and tilapia
culture in particular in the MRD have been a
long history. As a result, up to 60% of the
68
The experience of tilapia culture farmers in An
Giang province was expressed by the time of
fish farming as shown in Figure 1.
30
< 3 yrs
3 -5 yrs
5 - 7 yrs
> 7 yrs
10
3.3
farmers possessed the knowledge of tilapia
farming from their own experiences while 40%
of them learned from their neighbors (Table 1).
However, to be succeed in tilapia production,
particularly with intensive practice, the farmers
need higher knowledge on evaluation of
fingerlings quality, managment of feeding,
environment, and disease, etc. The study
findings showed that the knowledge and skills
of the farmers in tilapia culture were limited.
This was an obstacle to develop tilapia
production in the province aiming at export.
AGU International Journal of Sciences – 2020, Vol. 8 (1), 66 – 73
Table 1. Sources of tilapia farming knowledge of the farmers (n = 30)

Knowledge sources n ratio (%)

Education 0 0,0
Self-experience 18 60,0
From neighbours 12 40,0
Others (training, radio, television,…) 0 0,0

Farming practices were small-scale in general. The water level

Pond areas was maintained at an average depth of 2,09 m.
Some ponds in Chau Phu district reached a
All interviewed farmers were praticing tilapia
depth up to 5 m. However, the deep ponds
culture in ponds with an average area of pond
made difficulties in environmental management
of 2.237 m2 and water surface of 1.880 m2
and fish harvest.
(Table 2). It indicated that most tilapia farms

Table 2. Information about ponds

Parameters N M SD Min Max

Pond area (m2) 30 2.237 1.496 700 7.000
Water surface area (m2) 30 1.880 1.332 500 6.200
Water depth (m) 30 2,09 0,90 1,30 5,00

Farming systems pond water quality, environment management

The study results showed that 100% of
interviewed households practiced polyculture of
tilapia with other fish species such as tambaqui,
Indian major carps, silver barb, snakehead fish,
etc. to maximize pond space and feeds, enhance
water quality and reduce production cost.
Cropping period was quite long for one crop
per year, two crops for three years and even one
crop for two years depending on the
households. Tilapia harvested from these
system was difficult to fullfil exported
requirements due to small volumes and uneven
sizes of marketable fish.
Water source
Water source is a key factor in aquaculture in
general and fish culture in particular. The
source of water supply has a direct effect on
Table 3. Water sources and pond water management of the households (n = 30)
practice and production efficiency. According
to the survey results, 100% of the households
used water surface sources to supply to their
ponds without any treatment, of which 66.7%
from rivers and 33.3 from small canals (33,3%).
The common management practice of pond
environment was water exchange, in which
60% of the households did not discharge water
during the culture process and only added water
to ponds to compensate for water evaporation.
The low ratio (40%) of the households
practicing frequent water exchange was
explained by the apply of polyculture system to
utilise natural feed. Moreover, this system was
less polluted caused by over feed supply.
Discharged water from the fish ponds was
pumped directly into rice fields (91.7%) and
rivers (8.3%) without any treatments (Table 3).

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AGU International Journal of Sciences – 2020, Vol. 8 (1), 66 – 73

Parameters n ratio (%)

Water source
Rivers 20 66,7
Canals 10 33,3
Water exchange
No 18 60,0
Yes 12 40,0
Destination of discharged pond water
Rivers 1 8,3
Rice fields 11 91,7

Pond preparation and fingerling stocking
Pond preparation
Most of the households practicing pond
preparation at the beginning of a new crop.
Pond cleaning was applied after fish harvest by
removing pond bottom mud (36.7%), liming
(86.7%) and pond drying (63.3%). There was
only 13.3% of the households practicing pond
cleaning with lime (75%) and BKC (25%) to
remove undesirable aquatic animals and
pathogens before stocking fingerlings (Table 4).

Table 4. Pond preparation of the households (n = 30)

Parameters n ratio (%)

Bottom mud removal 11 36,7
Liming 26 86,7
Pond bottom drying 19 63,3
Black soils removal 11 36,7
Pond cleaning
No 26 86,7
Yes 4 13,3
Chemicals for pond cleaning
Lime 3 75,0
BKC 1 25,0

Sources, quality criteria and transportation
of fingerlings
Obtaining high quality fingerlings for stocking
is an important factor since it affects fish
growth, disease outbreak and yield. There was
80% of the households obtaining tilapia
fingerlings from hatcheries and the rest (20%)
using their own fingerlings recruited from
previous crop.
The quality criteria for selecting the fingerlings
from hatcheries were typical appearance and
color, active swimming and schooling, and size

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AGU International Journal of Sciences – 2020, Vol. 8 (1), 66 – 73

even; in which, the first two criteria were The fingerlings from hatcheries were packed in
commonly used. The average size of the oxygenated plastic bags and mostly transported
fingerlings purchased from hatcheries was 8 during morning time (75%). This was a very
gram per fish. This size was smaller than that of common transport method since it did not
the red tilapia fingerlings stocked in cages (30 - require high technique but effective (Figure 2).
35 gr/fish) (Phan, 2015).
Ratio (%)
90 80 80
80 73.3 75
70
60
50
40
30 25
20
20
10
0
Hatcheries Farmers Colour Swimming Morning Chiều
Source of Transport time
fingerlings

Figure 2. Source, quality criteria and transportation time of fingerlings

Fingerling treatment before stocking
A majority of the households (62,5%) did not
apply any fingerling treatment before stocking
because they considered that the fingerlings had
been treated by hatcheries before being sold
out. Among the households applying treatment,
all of them used salt bathing and 11,1% used
tetracyclin. The treatment before stocking made
the fingerlings well adapted to culture
environment and resistant to diseases.

100
100
90
80
70 62.5
60
50
37.5
40
30
20 11.1
10
0
Yes No Salt Tetracyclin
Treatment before stocking Chemicals used for treatment
Figure 3. Fingerling treatment before stocking

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Feed and feeding
Feed used in tilapia polyculture was homemade
one. There were a few households using
pelleted feed. Feeding ration was based on
farmer experiences without quantification.
Harvest and consumption
Overall, the yield of tilapia in polyculture
systems was not high. The highest production
of tilapia reached 500 kg per household. The
size of harvested fish was not even with an
average weight of 300 - 400 gram per fish,
ranging from 100 to 800 gram. The harvest
practice was carried out by pumping two thirds
of water out of the pond then netting. In
Table 5. Mode of harvested fish consumption
Parameters
With a contract of consumption
Yes
No
Mode of consumption
Through enterprises
Through small traders
By themselves (at local markets)
Advantages and disadvantages of tilapia
production
Advantages
Tilapia culture in ponds is
a traditional occupation of farmers in An Giang,
an upstream province in the MRD with
abundance of resources for aquaculture
development such as water source, water
bodies, natural feed, and availability of ponds.
The households in An Giang have taken full
advantage of these resources to develop tilapia
farming in polyculture systems. These practices
well-utilised pond space and natural feed,
reduced investment costs and increased
economic efficiency.
72
general, the average weight of tilapia harvested
from ponds was lower than that of red tilapia
from cages (500 - 600 gram) (Phan, 2015).
Due to small-scale culture, there was no
contract of product consumption between
households and enterprises. The households
sold harvested fish mainly through small traders
or by themselves at local markets (Table 5)
with low prices. The price of tilapia was
depended on the availability of natural fish. The
price of tilapia was high, ranged from VND
12,000 to 14,000 per kg, during dry season but
greatly reduced (from VND 5,000 to 8,000 per
kg) during flooding season with abundance of
natural fish.
N ratio (%)
0 0,0
30 100
0 0,0
21 70,0
9 30,0
Disadvantages
Lack of capital is the biggest difficulty of the
tilapia farming households to intensify their
production systems. Lack of advanced
knowledge of farming is another difficulty to
develop tilapia production. Low quality of
obtained tilapia fingerlings leading to low fish
growth, disease outbreak, high mortality, low
yield and high investment is another obstacle of
the production. Finally, all harvested fish is
mainly for domestic consumption with low
selling prices resulted in low economic
efficiency.
4. CONCLUSIONS AND
RECCOMENDATIONS
AGU International Journal of Sciences – 2020, Vol. 8 (1), 66 – 73
Conclusions
The model of polyculture of tilapia with other
fish species was applied by most of the
households in the survey area. The majority of
them bought tilapia fingerlings in hatcheries
without quality guarantee. The water source
was mainly from rivers. No treatment was
applied for supply and discharge water that
could negatively affect the surrounding
environment. The used feed was mainly
homemade one leading to the low productivity.
The tilapia production was developed without
planning and contract of purchase, and mainly
at small-scale levels resulted in difficulty of
product consumption and low selling prices.
Most of the farmers obtained the know-hows of
tilapia culture from their own experiences and
neighbours without any training.
Reccomendations
There is a need of credit support policy to assist
the households who want to increase
investment of their production. The local
government should encourage the households to
use good quality and monosex tilapia
fingerlings, and shift to intensive farming. More
training courses to transfer technology of tilapia
farming to the farmers should be offered to
upgrade their knowledge and production. Pond
water treatment before discharging into the
surrounding environment should be promoted.
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intensive culture of tilapia in tanks raceways
73
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